Manifestation
by Cordonare
Summary: TifaVincent pairing. Six months after Meteor was destroyed, a new enemy has sprung up - in the form of a strange virus with the power to possess others. And a familiar friend, long thought dead, is the first victim. -NOT RELATED TO AC-
1. Chapter One

** Manifestation**  
**Chapter One**  
  
_SIX MONTHS AFTER METEOR'S DESTRUCTION_  
  
The tinkling sound of the bell rang out as someone entered the store. A pair of chocolate-brown eyes looked up from some papers scattered on a desk and assessed the stranger. "Welcome to Nibelheim Inn, may I help you?" Tifa asked cheerfully, scooting her chair away from the desk and standing up with a stretch of her sculpted arms. She didn't miss how the customer - a young boy most likely in his teens - studied her body, clothed in a simple sundress with a scarf tied around the waist. A wave of resentment towards this action flashed through her, before she squashed the feeling and once more fastened a brilliant smile on her lips.  
  
"Yeah, I guess I just need...a room for the night," the boy answered. He seemed to almost stumble over the words, as though his mouth were clogged with dirt. "Just for one night, please." Tifa narrowed her eyes and looked to the desk, picking up a clipboard with some notes jotted down on it.  
  
"It looks like we have a room open. Here's your key..." She leaned over to snatch a key off a hook on the wall with a number painted on it. "You're in room number four. Please have a nice stay." The boy nodded before taking the key and heading for the stairs. Tifa winced as she watched him trip up nearly every single step. "What is he, drunk or something?" she muttered under her breath.  
  
She shook her head and plopped back down into her seat. Sitting in front of her was the stack of bills for the month, ready to be paid...with money she didn't have. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time, when she was still recovering from the shock after Cloud's rejection. Her heart had ached to be somewhere familiar, and drowning out her sorrows with cheap booze in a Costa del Sol apartment hadn't dissolved the pangs of her grief. So she had made up her mind to move back to Nibelheim and renovate the Inn, rebuilding the tiny structure to include more rooms, and start a business there. After all, just a few weeks after Shinra's downfall, the company workers pretending to live in the town had fled. Families were starting lives there anew, and she had wanted so badly to start anew. To forget everything that had happened, with Sephiroth, Aeris, Jenova...and Cloud.  
  
But the cost of adding on a few more rooms had been much more than she had figured, and now she found herself stuck in debt. She couldn't just leave; she was barely scraping a living off of the Inn alone. She was truly and completely trapped, and still miserable. Her brilliant plan had failed.  
  
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Later that night, Tifa stood up from the desk once more and clicked off the lamp. The clock on the wall nearby read 1:00 AM, and her brain was foggy with the need of sleep. She muffled a yawn with her hand and shuffled to the door behind her, opening it to step inside her tiny house. It was basically just a tiny kitchen with a few appliances and rusty pots and pans, a living room with a threadbare couch and a tiny bathroom off to the side. Her bedroom was up a short flight of steps, and she headed that way, climbing the short staircase to turn the doorknob.  
  
Once inside her room, she instantly headed for the desk against the far wall, opening a compartment and sliding out a bottle of whiskey. Taking out a glass as well, already sticky with the scent of the alcohol, she poured herself a shot and downed it like a drowning man desperate for oxygen. She needed to forget.  
  
Around six shots later, her mind was already beginning to fuzz over with the blissful release of being drunk. The whiskey soothed her nerves, numbed her feelings. Her head shot up as a knock was heard on her bedroom door, and she slid off the bed. "Who...is it?" she asked, slurring her words slightly. There was no answer, and her pretty features twisted into a scowl. She walked over to the door and opened it just a crack.  
  
"It's me." She tried to focus her blurry eyes and then nodded. It was just the young boy from earlier, the one who had rented room number four.  
  
"Yes...is there a problem, sir?" she questioned, trying to appear professional even though she knew she was tipsy. The boy's eyes narrowed and flashed as he once more took in her body, now in her tiny nightgown. She felt yet another wave of anger. She hated it when men looked at her like she was just some common slut. "Look, kid, do you mind? My eyes are up here," she snapped, crabby and at the end of her rope. "Now, is there something the matter with your room or what?"  
  
His eyes focused on hers as she had asked, and she took a step back. They were black with rage, and...odd-looking, somehow. As though he were dead. Emotionless, save for the anger in them. A shudder overtook her body and she tried to slam the door shut on instinct. His eyes made her feel trapped. However, he moved quicker, and blocked the door with his hand.  
  
"Let me in." His voice was cold and hard, and he shoved the door open with his shoulder. Tifa took a few more steps away from him, her heart pounding in her chest, loud as a drum. Now that she was away from the door, the boy had no trouble opening it the rest of the way. He began towards her, the black in his eyes growing even darker in menace. "Give me...what I want..."  
  
He seemed almost zombie-like, his movements and speech all in a monotone. He continued towards her until he had her backed up against the desk, and his hand reached out and tried to fondle her chest. Shutting her eyes, Tifa reached behind her quickly, felt for the whiskey bottle, and raised it above the boy's head –  
  
Gunshots suddenly ricochet around the room and Tifa instantly dropped to her knees and covered her ears. The air became hot and bloody and she heard the boy screaming in pain, before his cries were suddenly cut off. She hesitantly opened her eyes, almost afraid to see who had come to her rescue.  
  
The first thing her eyes focused on was the body of the boy who had just tried to rape her. Tears leaked from her eyes and she tried desperately to gulp them away. She was aware of a red cloak in the room, and its familiarity tugged at her senses, which were numb with shock and whiskey. She lifted her head to meet the eyes of her rescuer, chocolate- brown meeting cold ebony. "Vincent..." she murmured, her face shiny and slick with her salty tears.  
  
Vincent Valentine put his handgun securely back into its holster at his waist. He stepped over the dead body and offered her his hand, which she took after a moment's hesitation.  
  
"Tifa, I'm afraid there's been a problem."  
  
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Author's Note - Well, I'm going to end there. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'll have the next one out soon. Sorry about the cliffhanger!


	2. Chapter Two

_NOTE – This chapter contains strong language for PG13._  
  
Disclaimer – I don't own FFVII, its characters, storyline, situations, nada.  
  
**Manifestation**  
  
=Chapter Two=

Tifa slowly stood up, gripping tightly onto Vincent's hand. Feeling behind herself for the edge of the desk, she grasped it and then shook her hand free of his grip.  
  
"Are you all right?" Vincent asked, looking over her lithe body. He couldn't help but find her attractive, even though he knew it wasn't the time for that kind of thinking. Her brown hair had become tousled, and her cheeks were flush from fear.  
  
"Of course I'm all right," she replied. "I mean, I did use to live in the slums, remember? I'm kind of used to this sort of stuff..." Still, she admitted to herself, it had been awhile since she had lived underneath the Midgar plate. The near-rape experience and then the shooting of the youth in front of her eyes had shocked her. "Was it really necessary to kill him, though?" she added after a moment's hesitation.  
  
Vincent paused, looking down at the body of the boy as though he had forgotten it, which he almost had in the midst of his male thoughts. "Have you heard about Cloud yet?" he questioned, deciding to skip the question she had just asked. He wiped a splotch of blood off his cheek with the back of his hand.  
  
Might as well just get the bad news over with.  
  
Tifa laughed bitterly, crossing her arms and leaning back against the desk. "I haven't seen that bastard for a few months now. We didn't work out the way I thought we would, let's just put it like that."  
  
"Well, I guess that's for the best then, because he's dead."  
  
Short and blunt, to the point. So completely like Vincent himself, Tifa found herself thinking before the stun from his words hit her. She slumped back, her knees going weak. She couldn't take all this; it was just too much. She could feel the blood beginning to rush from her face.  
  
"Damnit Tifa, don't pass out on me. We have to talk." Even though his words were harsh, the hard look in his eyes became concerned, and he supported her body as he helped her stand again.  
  
"Cloud's dead? How and why?" Tifa couldn't ask any more questions. She was just so tired and numb. "Please, at least let me sit down on the bed." Vincent released his arms from around her body to let her do so, and she slumped down on the lumpy mattress with a moan of despair.  
  
"That's the thing, no one is really sure. That's why I came here. There's strong evidence that it was due to some kind of viral infection. Red XIII is doing some research into it." Since Meteor's destruction six months ago, Vincent had found himself wandering from place to place. He had ached to return to his basement coffin underneath the Shinra Mansion, but when he had gone back, all of the furniture had been stolen and presumably sold. Including the coffin where he had slept for so long.  
  
So he had been forced to become a listless wanderer, simply trying to eke out a living from whichever place he happened to find himself. Somehow he had ended up in Cosmo Canyon, where Red XIII had instantly taken him in, and he had been living with the creature for around a month now.  
  
"Red XIII had gone to Costa del Sol to visit Cloud. But when he got there..." Vincent paused, taking a moment to consider his words. "He found Cloud slumped in the bathroom, passed out. He wasn't sure what had happened, but he called me to come quickly, and I did. We couldn't get him to wake up...we tried everything, but it was as if he were dead – he wasn't breathing, yet his heartbeat was still strong. It was a mystery."  
  
Vincent took another pause, taking in Tifa on the bed. She had burrowed her way into the covers, so that only her head were visible. Her eyes were bleary, and her voice emotionless as she said, "Go on."  
  
"He stayed like that for a few hours, while Red XIII continued to check his vital signs, and I flipped through medical textbooks hoping to find information. Then, all of the sudden...he just jumped up. Shot straight out of that bed like a fucking firecracker. I was so surprised that I didn't have time to really react – and the next thing I knew, he had grabbed his sword from the cabinet and was holding it to Red XIII's throat.  
  
"From then on, things got confusing. Red XIII managed to kick Cloud off of him, but the bastard didn't stop there. He began speaking, in a very odd, emotionless voice."  
  
"'I met her again', he said. 'I met her, and she gave me a gift. It was a very special gift.' I yelled that he wasn't making any sense, and that seemed to piss him off. In an instant he had his sword up again and this time he managed to land a pretty deep cut on Red XIII's leg. I didn't want to do it, but he was leaving me with very few options...and he didn't look like he was planning on just cutting Red XIII's leg alone. So I reached for my handgun and was about to give a warning shot."  
  
"But then, the weirdest thing happened. He just fell back and stopped moving again. After a few still moments, Red XIII moved to check his pulse once more. But this time, he didn't have one. He was dead."  
  
Tifa began to quietly sob, shaking the blankets up and down in a silent, rythmetic pattern. Vincent closed his eyes and rubbed them, sitting down in the desk chair. "Red XIII and I figured that he had gone crazy, from the way he had been speaking and acting, but that didn't quite explain his death. However, after we looked into it further, we discovered some kind of virus in his bloodstream. It looks like a type of parasite, possibly. So I figured I should come here and ask you if you knew anything about it, since I thought you two were still close...and I found this bastard, in here, acting the same way Cloud had. Except this motherfucker was trying to rape you."  
  
He took yet another pause, seeming to contemplate something. "Maybe I did overreact when I started shooting him," he began, finally answering her question from earlier. "But I never have been able to stand the sight of a woman in trouble."  
  
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Author's Note – Sorry (again!) to leave all my readers here, but the next chapter will be coming up soon. I plan on updating once a day, if possible. =)


	3. Chapter Three, Part 1

**Manifestation  
  
-Chapter Three, Part 1-  
**  
"Do we have to keep talking about this?" Tifa muttered numbly from under the covers piled on top of her. The news of Cloud's death had hit her strongly. She hated to admit it, but..."I still loved him," she whispered to herself. Suddenly it felt like the blankets were choking her to death, and she flung them aside and took a deep breath.  
  
"Tifa, we can't stay here. This is serious...there is a serious problem going on here. We need to get to the bottom of this immediately."  
  
"And exactly what good would I do? Why do you need me to help?" Tifa asked, with a sigh that seemed to seep from her aching heart.  
  
"We need you because we need as many of our old friends as possible to fight this. So far we've been able to get into contact with Yuffie and Reeve. As soon as we can group everyone together, Red XIII is planning on taking a trip to the Forgotten City to study there, as well. The knowledge of the Cetra may help us in finding out what exactly this virus is."  
  
Suddenly the clarity of the situation seemed to strike Tifa, and pry apart the grief locked around her heart. "This is bad, isn't it?" she asked. "It's happening again."  
  
"Not necessarily. But Red XIII believes that the virus could be connected to Jenova somehow. There were traces of Jenova cells found within the parasite, too. Of course, it's hard to say whether or not those were just the cells that Cloud originally contained from Hojo's experimentation, or actually belonging to the virus." Vincent eyed the whiskey bottle and picked it up, gently swirling the alcohol around before taking a swig.  
  
"A virus with the power to possess those it inhabits..." Tifa murmured with a shiver before she slowly stood up. "Let me grab my glove, and then we'll get out of here." She paused, stealing a glance at the corpse on the ground. "What should we do with him, though?"  
  
"Leave it. Let the police deal with the body. We should be out of here long before they discover it, anyway."  
  
"But it seems so...inhumane to just leave it there," Tifa replied with a shudder. It truly had been a long time since she had lived in the Midgar slums.  
  
Vincent was almost out of the room before he stopped and threw a glance over his shoulder. "Trust me. That boy was inhumane when he was killed."

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**Author's Note** – I know, I know...that was terribly short. But I'm going out of town for the week, so I won't be able to update regularly like I did with the first two chapters. I won't be near a computer. ; So I wanted to let my readers know where I was going to be, and just give you all this little hint of what else there is to come. Expect a new update on Friday, though!


	4. Chapter Three, Part 2

**Manifestation**  
  
**Chapter Three, Part II**  
  
Tifa closed her eyes and leaned back against the hard seat, feeling the rocking of the buggy beneath her as it lumbered over the land. Through the windshield, the sky was painted a magnificent red and twinkled with stars. Cosmo Canyon was just ahead.  
  
She gripped her martial arts glove, already strapped onto her hand, and peered over at Vincent. He had gone silent, back to his usual stoic self. He had apparently only decided to talk enough to explain the current situation, because she hadn't heard a peep out of him since they had left Nibelheim to begin the short drive to the canyon.  
  
"So...it'll be nice to see Reeve, Yuffie, and Red XIII again," she said conversationally. "I think the last time I saw those three was around a month after the end of Meteor."  
  
"Hmm." That was Vincent's only comment. Tifa sighed and decided to just give up. They were almost there, anyway.

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Yuffie stopped combing through Red XIII's mane long enough to peep out the window and inspect the area. The animal gladly shook himself free from her grip and stepped up to the window next to her. "Did you hear something?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah, I thought I heard a buggy drive up!" she said excitedly, spotting Tifa and Vincent climbing out. "They're here!" She dashed out of the room to go greet them, while Red XIII shook his head and followed after her. Reeve also shook himself awake from his nap on the couch and went downstairs.

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Tifa glanced up and saw Yuffie dashing towards her. Within seconds, she was being smushed into a very large, affectionate hug.  
  
"I'm so glad to see you! It's been a long time, huh?" the now seventeen-year-old commented, giving one last squeeze for good measure before letting go. Tifa took a deep breath, relieved that she could breathe again.  
  
"Yeah, around four months or so." She thought to herself that it wasn't really too long of a time, but then again, months seem longer when you're younger..."It's nice to see that you haven't changed much," Tifa said with a grin.  
  
Red XIII walked up to the pair and Tifa gave him an affectionate pat on the head. "It's good to see you again, too," she claimed, the grin turning into a warm smile, then turning to hug Reeve. She had missed all of her friends more than she had thought.

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Later that night, they all gathered around in Red XIII's house at the very top of the canyon. The animal rooted around for a bit until finding two folders marked with "Virus Information" on the tab, and handed it to Tifa, who was sitting on the couch.  
  
"This is about all the info that we could gather from...Cloud," he explained, pausing for a bit as all four people fell silent. "...I'm sorry about your loss, Tifa."  
  
"It's not your fault...we weren't speaking to each other anymore. We got into a fight a few months back, and that was about the end of our relationship...in any form, friendship or more."  
  
Vincent glanced at her from the corner of his eye. He was leaning against the wall; his arms crossed, and hadn't said a single word since the meeting had started. "I was going to collect a blood sample from the youth I killed, but I wanted to get out of there before the police came," he said, closing his eyes again.  
  
Tifa opened the folder and flipped through many complicated-looking diagrams. "How many people have you seen infected with this?" she asked.  
  
"Just two, so far. Cloud and the young man from your Inn," Reeve claimed, patting her knee. Tifa looked up as he gave her a warm smile, before lightly squeezing her leg. She weakly smiled back, before sliding out from under his grasp. She knew he was only trying to be friendly, but she didn't like people touching her...not since Cloud.  
  
She then picked up two diagrams and held them up. They were nearly identical, and she studied them, looking for any slight differences. One was marked "Jenova", the other, "Unidentified virus".  
  
"You were right; there seem to be many similarities between Jenova and this new parasite..." Tifa murmured, sitting back and letting the sheets of paper fall into her lap. She could feel a few pangs of fear strike her heart, and she looked around at all of her old friends. The atmosphere was so silent and hurt; everyone had their minds on Cloud's death. He was surely going to be missed.  
  
"I don't want this to happen again," she began, before Vincent cut her words short.  
  
"None of us do. That's why we need to get to the bottom of all this."  
  
She nodded in agreement, knowing he was right. She needed to stop focusing on the past and instead think about how to prevent it from reoccurring. "So what's our next plan?" she asked.  
  
"Well, I've had a lot of trouble getting into contact with some of our old friends. It seems that after we helped to destroy Meteor, we all just went our separate ways. Cid married Shera and is somewhere honeymooning; I can't find him. Barrett and Marlene are living in Junon, and my calls are just going to the answering machine," Red XIII said.  
  
Tifa sighed inwardly. That was another one of the relationships she had lost. Her friendship with Barrett had been very strong; he had been like an older brother to her. But after their fight with Sephiroth was over, she had been so obsessed with making things with Cloud go right. She had ended up neglecting Barrett in the process. They hadn't spoken for quite awhile now.  
  
"So we've decided to quit trying to locate those two, because we really need to start doing some heavy investigation into this virus. Tomorrow we leave for the City of the Ancients. The knowledge of the Cetra is extremely vast, and it could help us greatly." Red XIII sat back on his haunches, apparently done with his explanation.  
  
Yuffie yawned and closed her eyes, slumping back into the cushions of the couch. "Shouldn't we get into bed, then? I mean, it's late already, and we need to get up early..." She half-drifted off in the middle of the sentence, seeming to fall asleep almost instantly.  
  
Red XIII nodded. "We can lay down some blankets around the room to sleep on tonight. The Inn is completely booked up with tourists, unfortunately."  
  
That was fine with Tifa. She could feel herself succumbing to sleep already...

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_The light was dim inside the tiny forest, and it was hard to see. Tifa squinted and looked around, trying to locate where the noises were coming from. Sounds of pain and grief.  
  
Where was she? It looked almost like the forest that guarded the City of the Ancients. But she could still hear the noises; screaming, agony. She needed to find the source.  
  
Suddenly, Tifa spotted a head of spiky-blond locks. Cloud? What was he doing here? He was dead, wasn't he? And a quick flash of pale pink. Then more crying. She stumbled towards the colors.  
  
Pushing a bush aside, there she spotted the two. Cloud and Aeris, kissing together on a fallen tree trunk. He had his arms wrapped around her tightly, and the embrace they were in was tight.  
  
Of course. She had always known that, hadn't she? He had left her because he just couldn't forget Aeris. She was fixated in his mind for eternity. And now here they were, together like this. When Tifa herself had been left behind. Angrily, she began to yell and stagger towards the two.  
  
But before she could get there, the embrace she was witnessing seemed to change. Aeris began to rot before Tifa's very eyes, her skin becoming murky and puckered, some of it falling away from her bones. She lifted her hands and sank her nails into Cloud's back, and he began to scream in agony. Tifa stopped mid-step and watched in shock.  
  
Aeris broke away from the kiss and grinned, before closing her eyes and seeming to shoot something into Cloud's back through her fingertips before releasing him. He moaned in agony and slumped back, sliding off the tree trunk, and then twitching on the hard ground.  
  
And the young woman clothed in the pale-pink dress smiled and stood up, not even glancing at Tifa. She turned the other way and was gone among the greenery within an instant.  
  
And then Tifa realized that she had been the one screaming, crying, and aching with grief. The thing she had needed to find, she had found. Discovered in the swatches of pink cloth, of brown hair spilling over decaying shoulders. In Cloud's now motionless body, lying on the cold forest floor. She knew now._

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Tifa awoke with a start, sitting straight up with a gasp. Moonlight streamed in from the open window, illuminating the sweat dripping from her body.  
  
"What?" she muttered, feeling disoriented. "Cloud and Aeris together?" Already the nightmare was fading fast from her sleepy mind, and she rubbed her eyes wearily. "What an awful dream..." She spent a few more moments contemplating before finally laying back down on the soft blanket to close her eyes once more.

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**Author's Note:** Well...there you go! =) I know that I said I would update on Friday, but I couldn't seem to find a good time to write. So I stayed up tonight to give all my readers this end to chapter three. lol I hope you all enjoyed it! I'll be starting on the next installment soon, and expect another update within the next few days. =)


	5. Author's Note

**=============**

**Author's Note:** Just to let you all know...I won't be updating for a while. My dog recently got extremely sick and just last night he had a heart attack and passed away. I'm incredibly saddened by this, I loved him to death. I've pretty much lost my inspiration for writing...after I have a few days to get over it, though, I'll try to get back on keeping you all updated. Thank you for understanding.

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	6. Chapter Four

**Manifestation**  
  
Chapter Four  
  
Harsh sunlight streamed in through the windows of Red XIII's home, casting shredded pieces of its glow on the sleeping people inside. Tifa scrunched her eyes up tightly as the light hit them, rolling over and stuffing her face into her pillow.  
  
Suddenly, she smelled bacon frying. That was enough to get her to poke her head back up. Her stomach rumbled loudly, reminding her that she hadn't eaten in awhile. She followed the scent to see Reeve standing by the stove, sliding a few pieces onto a plate.  
  
He looked over his shoulder and saw Tifa sitting up, rubbing her sleep-filled eyes. "Good morning," he said cheerfully. "Are you hungry?"  
  
"God, yes." She carefully stood up, stretching her toned arms into the air before lowering them to hastily finger-comb her messy locks. She gave Reeve an easy smile and took the plate of bacon and eggs that he offered her. "Is there coffee, by any chance?"  
  
He grinned. "You're addicted to the stuff too, huh?" he questioned, turning back around to reach for the pot of freshly-brewed coffee and pouring her a cup. He stirred in some powdered creamer and handed the mug over to Tifa. She grasped it tightly in her hands and took a grateful sip.  
  
"Thanks." She looked around the room, noticing all the empty sleeping bags. "Where is everyone?"  
  
"They're all scattered around the canyon, stocking up for our trip to the City of the Ancients. You might want to make sure you have some extra potions and stuff, too," Reeve suggested, as Tifa picked up a piece of bacon and bit into it.  
  
"Mm..." she tried to swallow the piece before she answered. "Yeah, sounds like a good idea. I need to wash my face, though." Having said that, Tifa ate a few more pieces of bacon before heading off to the bathroom.

===============  
  
Later that day, everyone stood grouped around a small plane. Yuffie was inspecting the inside through the window. "Are you sure this thing can fit all five of us in it?" she asked, sounding unsure.  
  
Reeve shrugged. "Cut me some slack, this is all I own. I couldn't get a hold of Cid, or the Highwind," he laughed.  
"Besides, it'll get us to the City of the Ancients just fine," Tifa cut in. She had a weird feeling about all this, and she was pretty sure that it was connected to the dream that she had the night before. She couldn't remember it very well though...all she could recall was a blur of pink and yellow. And fear, too. Cold, icy fear. She was afraid of just what they were going to discover at the site of Aeris' death.

===============  
  
"There, I can see the Ancient forest," Reeve said to his friends as he piloted the plane over the Northern Continent. "I'll fly over it and land outside the City." Yuffie snored next to him, partially drowning out his words, but Tifa nodded to let him know that she had heard. Red XIII sat on the floor of the plane, and Vincent sat in the seat next to her, gazing silently out the window.  
  
Tifa leaned over to gaze out, as well. "I haven't been back here since Bugenhagen took us back..." she murmured under her breath. Vincent shifted in his seat.  
  
"...I haven't, either," he answered back. Tifa turned to look at him, and gave him a tiny smile. His eyes held her, and although he didn't smile back, he didn't look unfriendly. After a brief uncomfortable pause, she sat back into her own seat.

===============  
  
Around ten minutes later, Reeve had managed to successfully land the plane right outside of the deserted city. Tifa climbed out of the plane, looking at her surroundings with a shiver. The ancient shell houses, long since abandoned, always struck her as creepy. Then there was the fact that this was the place where they had lost Aeris...a flash of her forgotten dream seemed to come back for just an instant, before it was gone again. She had a terrible premonition, though. Something bad was going to happen.  
  
"So...Red XIII, what do you think our first thing to do should be?" Reeve questioned. Everyone seemed to be trying to forget about just what tragedy had happened in this very place.  
  
"We should look into some of the abandoned homes. There could be old documents of some sort hidden in one of them. After all, they left documents of Jenova. They could have known about this virus, too," Red XIII answered.  
  
Yuffie clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a yawn. "There's a lot of houses around here though...which one should we go into first?" she asked.  
  
"It would make more sense to split up and individually check each one out," Vincent suggested in his cool, calm voice. Nothing ever seems to affect him, Tifa mused to herself.  
  
Reeve nodded. "You're right. So, I'll take the house to the left, Red XIII, you can take the first house to the right...Yuffie...you take the one next to that, Vincent, take the last one to the right...Tifa?"  
  
She nodded slowly, knowing that there was only one house left to taken – the one housing the staircase which led down to the scene of Aeris' death. "Yeah, don't worry about it. I'll search the last home." She gave everyone a reassuring smile, and then everyone went their own separate ways. There was really nothing left to be said.

===============  
  
Tifa carefully stepped through the tiny forest path leading to the house beyond it. Up ahead, she could already see the glittering edge of the lake...a band of pain constricted around her chest suddenly. She had so many sad memories of this place...but she shook her head. No matter what, she had to focus on just researching the virus. However, she still couldn't shake off her premonition...  
  
She finally broke through the end of the path, and set her eyes upon the tiny lake and then the house sitting behind it. She edged her way along the edge of the lake, watching the water glisten. Biting her lip, she closed her eyes and walked up to the door of the house, taking a deep breath and walking inside.  
  
And behind her now, the surface of the lake began to ripple as something rose up from the surface....to claim yet another victim.

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Author's Note – Eek, I know! I was terrible about bringing you all this chapter. =( I apologize. I needed some time to grieve over my dog dying...but I feel much better now, and all ready to start updating regularly once more. I hope you all stuck with me, and I hope you like this chapter. =)


	7. Chapter 5

** Manifestation**  
  
**Chapter Five**

Tifa sat down on the floor of the home, having found various old papers scattered in a nearby desk. She flipped through them, her brow crinkling at the unfamiliar words. "Great. I bet Red XIII didn't even figure that we don't know how to speak the Cetra language. I wonder if he can..."  
  
Undaunted, she continued to carefully examine the fragile pages. Her stomach felt like it had a large pit stuck inside of it. She couldn't shake off her bad feeling.  
  
She shook her head and stood up to look out the window. Peering at the stars, she suddenly felt a horrible sense of being completely and totally alone. The feeling seemed to pierce its way into her very soul, and she shuddered, setting down the papers and wrapping her arms around herself. "It's just this place getting to me..." she murmured under her breath.  
  
Suddenly, from the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a flash of movement down by the edge of the lake. With a gasp, she grasped the end of the window and leaned out a little further to see more clearly.  
  
The water was rippling, as though something had disturbed it.  
  
"Probably just Yuffie, or Red, or...someone...coming to make sure I'm okay," she said to herself. She started down the twisting corridor, knowing that at the end would be the doorway, and, she tried to reassure herself, just one of her friends.  
  
She paused upon coming to the end of the hallway, staring at the empty doorway. There was no one there. She blinked, feeling a little bewildered, and wondering if her eyes had been playing tricks on her. "Is someone there?" she called out meekly, taking a few more cautious steps forward. She reached the doorway and poked her head out to take a look around.  
  
Someone stood by the edge of the lake. Tifa squinted, trying to make out the figure. Mist was draped around the ground like gauze, making it hard to see. "Yuffie? Is that you?"  
  
And then the figure turned around, and Tifa got a good look at it. And began to scream.

====================

Vincent looked up from his papers, hearing the scream pierce the night air. "What was that...?" he muttered to himself. "Sounded like Tifa..." He sat there for another moment, seeming to contemplate something, and then stood up and strode out the door to head over to where she was.

====================

Tifa took a few shaky steps backward, her breath catching in her chest. "...A-Aeris?" Or rather, a much decomposed version of the once-lovely woman. Her hair hung in lank, stringy pieces, and her flesh was rotting away. As Tifa stared, open-mouthed, her gray skin seemed to be melting right off of the bone. Her familiar pink dress and red jacket hung in ripped pieces, barely clinging to the rotting flesh. Aeris had no eyes, but instead, two empty eye-sockets, which stared right at Tifa.  
  
Tifa felt a very intense series of shudders start to rip their way through her body, and she sank to her knees in shock. "It can't be, it can't be, no, no, no..." she chanted over and over again, as though that would make the horrible apparition disappear.  
  
But however hard she muttered the same words over and over again, it didn't work. Aeris took halting, shaky steps closer and closer to Tifa, who lay immobile on her knees. "Come here...Tifa..." the figure muttered in a croaky version of Aeris' voice. "I just want...to see you again."  
  
As Aeris come closer, she held out her hands, which sprung deadly- long claws. She began to chuckle deep in her rotting chest, tensing up her arms and watching a long spew of mucous-like liquid ooze from her decaying fingertips. "See? It's a present..."  
  
Tifa sat on her knees, rocking back and forth from fear and shock. Not in all her life had she ever encountered anything so terrifying...and not in the form of someone who used to be a friend. "Don't," she muttered to herself, tears running down her cheeks to slide, wet and salty, into her gaping mouth.  
  
But Aeris didn't listen. She just continued to shuffle nearer until she was right in front of Tifa, her claws preparing to sink themselves into the woman's flesh. "See?" She held up her hands, fingertips tense and ready. "Just a little present-"  
  
FLASH! Suddenly, a blinding light filled the area. Tifa shrieked yet again, throwing her head on the ground and wrapping her arms around it.

====================

Vincent came into the tiny clearing just as the flash of light surrounded it, and he quickly threw his arm up over his eyes to avoid blinding himself. Once it had faded, he quickly slid his gun out from its holster and took a few steps forward, ready to shoot whatever was in the clearing with him. He suddenly looked confused at the sight before him.  
  
A woman of around twenty years stood in front of Tifa, who lay flat on the ground, protecting her head. The woman held up a long staff, made of wood with purple gemstones set on top of it in a circular pattern, and one sparkling white materia orb set in the middle. In front of the woman stood Aeris...or at least, a decaying human resembling the dead Ancient. Vincent blinked, heavily confused.

====================

Tifa, after not hearing any noise after the loud flash, slowly uncovered her head and lifted it up. She stared in confusion at the back of a woman standing in front of her. Beyond her was the decaying figure of Aeris, and Tifa watched in shock as the decomposed woman slowly sunk into the soft, muddy earth, until no one but the strange female stood in front of her. "What...."  
  
Her head shot up even further as she saw Vincent enter the clearing, his gun ready in his hand. He stared at the woman with a calm expression on his face, though Tifa thought she could see confusion in his eyes.  
  
The woman slowly set her staff back down on the ground, holding up her free hand. "Don't shoot," she said serenely. Tifa stood up, dusting the dirt off her still-shaking knees. She observed the woman in front of her silently.  
  
She had short, red hair that was pulled up into an almost-perfect bun, with just a few wisps escaping...and the exact same, pointy bangs that Aeris had. She turned to Tifa with a smile, and then Tifa noticed that she had kind, wise green eyes. She was clothed in a simple halter-top dress that clung behind her smooth neck and clutched tightly around her chest before falling softly to the floor. The fabric seemed to be made of silk, and was a shiny, pale-yellow color.  
  
"Who are you?" she suddenly heard Vincent question, still keeping his gun out from the holster.  
  
"I'm Celeyne. The founder of the Cetra."

====================

**Author's Note –** Dun dun DUN! Well, in the next chapter, we find out more about this Celeyne character! I hope you all enjoyed this one. Thank you for all the reviews...I look forward to more! =P Expect the next chappy within the next couple of days – I really like how this is going now, and I feel really inspired to write, so the words are just flying.


	8. Chapter 6

**Manifestation**  
  
**Chapter Six**  
  
Tifa sat back up on her knees, staring open-mouthed at the woman claiming to be the founder of the Cetra. Her mind raced, trying to take everything in at once. "B-but that's just not possible. The Cetra race was founded many centuries ago," she halfway babbled, before letting shock from what had just happened flow through her veins and make her feel numb. She stood up the rest of the way, dusting off her dirty knees.  
  
Vincent slid his gun back into its holster slowly. This woman seemed like no threat to him, after all. "Explain?" he asked.  
  
Celeyne smiled, and then closed her eyes. The wooden staff she held in her hands flickered, then vanished. Tifa watched her somewhat warily, still feeling unsteady.  
  
Suddenly, Red XIII, Yuffie, and Reeve dashed into the clearing. "What in the world was that flash-"Red XIII started to ask, then stopped in mid- sentence, staring at the mysterious woman. He recalled Bugenhagen showing him a book about the Cetra race during his studies. While looking through its pages, he had seen a drawing of a beautiful young woman. His grandfather had informed him that she had been the very first to grace the Cetra name.  
  
This woman was identical in every way to the picture he remembered from his childhood.  
  
"Let me explain myself," Celeyne began. Her voice was low and rich in tone. She walked over to a nearby rock jutting up from the soil and slowly sat back on it, spreading her dress around her legs as she did so. Yuffie looked completely lost.  
  
"Who the heck is this woman?" she yelled loudly. Celeyne looked over at her with a scolding glance.  
  
"If you'd care to listen, I can tell you," she replied. Yuffie shut her mouth and plopped down on the ground to do as Celeyne said.  
  
"This parasite you are looking into has been around for many ages. It is a disease that Jenova released when Meteor first crashed into the Planet. I was the founder of this earth, a soul that had cultivated this rich soil with my spiritual powers, formed a mate, and then spread my children around the world. You know, of course, that the Cetra were nomads. They would migrate in, settle the Planet...then move on, searching for their Promised Land."  
  
"I was just about to do just that. My children and I had cultivated this land, and were in eternal search of our Promised Land. Then Meteor fell, and destroyed our hopes and dreams."  
  
"Jenova killed many Cetra, and transformed many more into monsters. They then attacked their own people...it was a terrible time. The parasite you're looking into is none other than the very one which transformed souls into twisted creatures."  
  
"I, along with a group of survivors, managed to destroy Jenova. But I lost my life in the process, using Holy. My body decomposed and returned to the Lifestream, but using my spiritual powers, I was able to keep a watch over the Earth. I watched as my children dwindled in number, as other humans began to take control of the Planet. But the world remained peaceful enough. Until Meteor almost fell again."  
  
"As you know, the last surviving Cetra, Aeris Gainsborough, was able to use Holy to destroy Meteor once more. But what you're most likely not aware of, is the fact that before Meteor exploded, it tried one last try for attack. It shot out microscopic cells containing the parasite into the air, which would have fallen on Midgar, if not for the immediate explosion right afterwards. The blast from Meteor exploding sent the cells spiraling north, right into the Ancient Forest."  
  
"No one ventures into the forest, so no humans were contaminated with the parasite. However, tiny creatures of the forest were, such as mice and rats. On the outside, a being infected looks completely normal – until they try to infect you. Then mucous-like liquid containing the virus cells ooze from their finger-tips, and they sink their nails into an area of your body, sending the parasite into your bloodstream."  
  
Tifa shuddered, recalling what Aeris had tried to do to her. She wrapped her arms around herself, keeping her eyes trained on the ground as she listened to Celeyne continue her long story.  
  
"The parasite was slowly spread around the forest, until it came to the City itself. And the only thing to contaminate here laid in this very lake...the corpse of your friend, the last Cetra, Aeris."  
  
"It infected her, and manifested itself into her consciousness. So it's not truly Aeris that attacked you," she turned to Tifa and said with a smile. "The true spirit of Aeris lives on in the Lifestream, in her own Promised Land. But the virus is controlling her body, and using it to do its will."  
  
"I saw this from my resting place, and knew it had to be stopped. If not, the virus will slowly contaminate this entire Planet, and life as we know it will cease to exist...so I used my powers to return to this world." Celeyne suddenly stopped, and smiled sadly. "You see, I'm not truly alive...this is just my spirit taking the form of my body." She paused, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Her story, for now, seemed to be over.  
  
Their adventure, however, was just beginning...

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Later that night, the group huddled inside the very same house where they had slept the night Aeris had died. Everyone seemed almost afraid to even touch Celeyne, as though her magical powers would kill them, and so she laid on one of the beds alone, her eyes closed and seemingly asleep.  
  
Tifa stared down at her tightly-clasped hands. "It makes sense now..." she muttered to herself. All of her friends had tried to comfort her after they were told what had happened, but to no avail. She seemed to be suffering from extreme shock.  
  
Vincent sat up against the wall, and Tifa thought that he was sleeping. She didn't notice him crack an eye open and take in her pitiful form, shaking on the top of the frail bed. "What makes sense now?" he asked, curious, and also feeling a little bit sorry for the woman.  
  
Tifa gasped at the sudden intrusion, turning to face him. She locked her knees together once more and shut her eyes, trying to make her body stop shaking. She couldn't. She may as well tell him....  
  
"Well, the reason why I moved to Nibelheim is because Cloud and I broke up...we were living together in his Costa del Sol house, and I thought we were happy. In fact, things were going so well between us that I even hoped that an engagement was coming up...but then he woke up one morning, ranting and raving about Aeris. He claimed that he needed to go find her, because she was lonely and she missed him, stuff like that. It didn't make any sense. At first I just thought he was drunk, but he remained this way for almost four days...and every time I would try to reason with him, he would nearly bite my head off for it. He was acting so weird."  
  
"Then one morning, I woke up, and he was gone. He had left a note for me explaining that he had gone back to see Aeris, and that he had never truly loved me...and it broke my heart. I loved him so much. I think I've loved him ever since I found him crumpled up, defenseless, by the Sector 7 Train Station in Midgar..."  
  
'I hung around for a couple more days, soaking my sorrows in cheap beer, hoping that he might return. But he didn't, just like I knew he would. That's when I decided that the best thing to do was to just start over again. That's why I moved to Nibelheim and started up the Inn."  
  
She turned to Vincent, her eyes suddenly urgent, and he was taken aback by her abrupt change of character. "Don't you understand?" she asked in a harsh whisper. "Cloud went to the City of the Ancients....to here, because he was missing her. When he got here, Aeris infected him with the virus...and he went back to Costa del Sol, where you and Red XIII found him, and he tried to infect you....so you killed him," she finished with a tiny whimper.  
  
"My dream came true..." she muttered to herself, before then flopping back onto the bed, spent by her story. "Thanks for listening to me, Vincent." She rolled onto her side to look at him and gave him a tiny smile. "You're good at just sitting there and listening to people, aren't you? You never try to interrupt or anything..." She began to softly mumble to herself as her eyes drooped shut, and then Vincent found himself staring at a sleeping Tifa.  
  
He allowed himself a small grin as her kind words found their way inside his normally dormant heart, before he too fell asleep once more.

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Author's Note: Thanks for reading. =) Next chapter is coming soon!


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